Weight training, cardio and circuit training give skiers and snowboarders an edge when it comes to avoiding injury and performing at peak on the slopes. (Photo by Helen Hi. Richardson, The Denver Post)

Whether your physical goals are to build muscle or cardiovascular fitness or train for winter sports, it’s important to find a good balance of cardiovascular fitness and weight training.

As a three-time Colorado power-lifting champion and long-distance runner, I have learned that you can’t leave either one out of your exercise program. With winter sports season well under way, it’s time to prepare by following an effective, sport-specific cardiovascular fitness and weight-training program.

[media-credit name=”RJ Sangosti, The Denver Post” align=”alignnone” width=”495″][/media-credit] If you’re hating on the mid-April snow, you’re basically hating on river rafting, fishing and more. Above, rafters on a trip with Clear Creek Rafting Company make their way down Clear Creek in May of 2011.

If you’re on social media, you’ve surely seen the incessant complaining.

If you’ve somehow missed it, you’re lucky. But if that’s the case, we’re here with the Cliff’s Notes: “There’s snow! In Colorado! In April! Snow! Isn’t it spring? The sidewalks are icy! The streets are dangerous! OMG THERE’S SNOW!”

All that hyperbole is true — this snowstorm has rocked Denver, the mountains and beyond. But what’s hard to understand is all the surprise, not to mention all the negativity.

Travel and Fitness Editor Kyle Wagner grew up in Pittsburgh and lived in Lake County, Ill., and Naples, Fla., before moving to Denver in 1993, where she reviewed restaurants for Westword before moving to The Denver Post in 2002. She considers the best days to be those that involve her teenage daughters and doing something outside, preferably mountain biking or whitewater rafting.

The pursuit of a healthier state through better living. The Denver Post's ColoradoFit blog features local experts on the latest fitness trends, active lifestyles and nutrition options in Colorado and beyond.